GMC Good Medical Practice Flashcards
What are the Four Domains of the GMC guide for Good Medical Practice?
- Knowledge, Skills & Development
- Patients, Partnership & Communication
- Colleagues, Culture & Safety
- Trust & Professionalism
What is meant by “Knowledge, Skills & Development”?
- Provide a good standard of practice and care, and work within your competence.
- Keep your knowledge and skills up to date.
What is meant by “Patients, Partnership & Communication”?
- Respect every patient’s dignity and treat them as an individual.
- Listen to patients and work in partnership with them, supporting them to make informed decisions about their care.
- Protect patients’ personal information from improper disclosure.
What is meant by “Colleagues, Culture & Safety”?
- Work with colleagues in ways that best serve the interests of patients, being willing to lead or follow as circumstances require.
- Be willing to share your knowledge, skills and experience with colleagues, whether informally or through teaching, training, mentoring or coaching.
- Treat people with respect and help to create a working and training environment that is compassionate, supportive and fair, where everyone feels safe to ask questions, talk about errors and raise concerns.
- Act promptly if you think that patient safety or dignity may be seriously compromised.
- Take care of your own health and wellbeing needs, recognising and taking appropriate action if you may not be fit to work.
What is meant by “Trust & Professionalism”?
- Act with honesty and integrity, and be open if things go wrong.
- Protect and promote the health of patients and the public.
- Never unfairly discriminate against patients or colleagues.
- Never abuse patients’ trust in you or the public’s trust in your profession.
What is Good Medical Practice?
An ethical framework that sets out the principles, values and standards that medical professionals must follow to deliver safe care in the interest of the patient.
How should medical professionals use Good Medical Practice?
Should apply the guidelines with professional judgement to day-to-day practice, evaluating relevance of the guidelines to context and using skills and experience to evaluate how to use them.
How are “must” and “should” used in Good Medical Practice?
Must - a legal or ethical duty that should be expected of you or justified if not.
Should - duties that may not apply to you or the current situation, or you may not be able to comply due to factors you can’t control.
What are the three parts of public protection?
- Protecting, promoting and maintaining the health, safety and well-being of the public
- Promoting and maintaining public confidence in the medical professions
- Promoting and maintaining proper professional standards and conduct
How do you show competence in your profession?
Must be competent in all aspects of your work, and work only within your competence.
Must keep up to date and follow all guidance and laws relating to your work.
How does Knowledge, Skills & Development relate to providing Good Clinical Care?
Must work in partnership with the patient to assess needs and priorities, and base treatment plans on this and effectiveness of the treatment.
Must take a complete and accurate history/ examination.
All treatments prescribed/ provided with the best (sufficient) evidence available.
Consult colleagues or refer patients to other qualified practitioners when suitable to their needs.
How do you Adequately Assess a Patient’s Condition?
History should include: symptoms, psychological, social, economic factors, the patients needs and values.
Physical examinations carried out when necessary.
Should you offer remote consultations?
Only if you can provide safe and effective clinical care. If not, consider alternative option or signpost elsewhere.
How do you maintain, develop & improve your performance?
Keep knowledge and skills up to date.
Find structured support following role changes.
Monitor and reflect on your performance and ways to improve.
Take part in regular training and reviews.
How should you manage resources?
Make good use of resources and provide the best service possible.
Take into account the wider population.
Use sustainable solutions where possible and don’t compromise care.
Consider initiatives to reduce healthcare impacting environment.
How can you ensure you are treating patients fairly?
You must respect their dignity and privacy.
Treat patients fairly - do not discriminate or decline treatment due to any circumstance.
Give priority based on clinical need.
Treat information as confidential, even if patient has died.
How can you treat patients with kindness, courtesy & respect?
Communicate sensitively and considerately, recognise their knowledge and experience, and what may be concerning to them.
Don’t make any assumptions.
Be willing to explain reasoning behind decisions and recommendations.
Recognise and potential vulnerability, pain or distress.
How can you support patients to make decisions regarding their own healthcare?
Assume capacity in adults until evidence suggests otherwise. Give as much information as possible to allow informed decisions to be made.
Must have valid consent before examining or treating patients.
Understand all laws regarding consent and capacity.
